Super Sons, Book 3: Escape to Landis (Family Comic Friday)

After a 3 year hiatus, I finally came across the third and final book of Ridley Pearson's Super Sons trilogy. This is definitely something I don't recommend as such a long gap between volumes can really make someone forget a lot of the minutia. It's those littlest of details that distinguish this vision of the heirs of Batman and Superman from the main DC Universe version. But they're also the subtle changes that greatly influence the plot. 

A quick summary of what happened prior is that the sons of Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne meet after rising floodwaters caused by climate change, displace the Kent family deeper into Batman territory. Superman has gone to Mars to collect a special dust that may help a series of weather satellites deflect some of the sun's most potent rays. Meanwhile, Batman is busy trying to stop a deadly flu-like plague which has already killed hundreds and now threatens the life of Lois Lane.

In Volume 2, Jon Kent and Damian Wayne met a new girl at their school named Candace, who is the exiled child ruler of the faraway kingdom of Landis. The Super Sons and Candace learn that the Governor General of the land of Coleumbria, which houses cities like Metropolis and Gotham City, plans to weaponize the virus and use it to destroy Landis. As Candace races back to Landis to save her people, Jon and Damian, along with their friend Tilly are working to find the cure for the virus. Only, the trio are now in hiding as the evil rulers of Coleumbria have identified them and have placed assassins on their tail to stop them from their goal of saving both Coleumbira and Landis.

I had said in reviewing book 2 that it just felt that too much stuff was being crammed into what will turn out to be a trilogy. I really felt like a 4th book was going to be needed in order to make everything come to a satisfying end. Writer Ridley Pearson stuck to the trilogy format and it didn't feel rushed to make all of these dangling plot threads come together in just 150 pages. I still don't understand why the names of these different regions and even some cities are different from our worlds. In the monthly DC books, Metropolis and Gotham are in the United States. I'm also not sure if Candace is supposed to be a version of Wonder Woman or Vixen. Maybe she, along with Tilly, are all-new characters that incorporate elements of other characters from DC lore. I'm just not that sure as there are so many other canonical characters in this trilogy like Perry White and a female version of Jimmy Olsen. 

Ile Gonzalez continues as the artist of this series. Her art is pretty good. Though some of her facial expressions on characters, especially villains are a bit too exaggerated for my taste. But I really liked her dynamic framing of this book; especially the scene where Candace is meandering through a crawlspace. Gonzalez frames the story with these twists and turns that show the character moving about gingerly in between frames of action outside of the air vents. Such a Jack Kirby or Will Eisner thing to do in which I am a huge fan of both!

As much as the ending of this trilogy was satisfying for me, I was even more pumped for the beginning of a new graphic novel by Pearson which is previewed at book's end. Called Indestructibles: The First Fracture, this book promises a super hero group of all-new characters. For those who complain of modern reboots of your favorite characters which involve the changing of race, sex or gender identity and wish that the big comic publishers would focus on creating all-new characters, you've been granted your request. Just don't expect to see a sequel. As with just about any comic book or graphic novel by DC or Marvel that introduces all-new characters, it didn't sell very well. In fact, it did so poorly, I can't even find it on Amazon! 

The Super Sons trilogy has come to a close. It was a good read. It's just not a world I need to visit again. Until I can understand better why Ridley Pearson needed to create a whole slew of new continents and nations for this book, I think I am better off just sticking with the Super Sons of the monthly DC floppies. Plus, having a deadly virus take over the world just in time for a pandemic is kinda eerie and not how I want to escape into comic books from the real world. I need my fantasy to be just that, a mindless trip away from reality and it's troubles.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars. 

DC's Terrors Through Time #1

Finally, after several years of complaints, DC releases a holiday time special that contains relevant content but doesn't make the reader want to kill themselves because of being shamed about the sins of the world. 

For instance, in the prequel story starring the Gotham City Sirens, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy and Catwoman face a Hawaiian earth spirit who is unhappy with how their pristine island has become tarnished by man. I did not realize how much damage cats have done to the island chains' ecosystem, including the surrounding oceans! But in this story, the Sirens 3 are given a chance to redeem the wrongs and there's a little bit of hope; something that has been lacking from DC Comics' for the past several years.

I think DC is starting to understand that the readers with money to spend want to be entertained, not preached at. If I want a sermon, I know where to go on a Sunday morning. There's nothing wrong with covering political or even social topics. Just don't be snarky with your comments and inside jokes. Not every white male in America supports Trump and his ideals...

There are 7 other stories in this book which looks at horror through the ages as opposed to time travel frights. Based on the cover with the Super Sons looking over blueprints for a time machine, that's what I thought this book was going to be about. Alas, I was wrong.

Instead, the opening story, starring the Phantom Stranger sets the tone for this 80-page giant. The Stranger's story reflects on his eternal mission to save humanity from the forces of darkness. This usually involves demons and monsters. But I would have expected a story that took place over eons would have The Stranger wearing different togs. Instead, he wears that 1960s mod turtle neck, fedora and cloak of his throughout all time. I didn't know his costume was so timeless.

The story starring The Demon, Etrigan, was perhaps one of the best stories ever published by DC. The ending was absolutely freakin' perfect! If they still do awards for story of the year in comics, this one gets my vote and full support!

Other stories of note was the Halloween set story of the Super Sons as they go to trick-or-treating to all the secret lairs of the Justice League's line-up. Then go 50 years into the future to see how Swamp Thing protects the Green after a nuclear catastrophe. 

There's also a really good Green Lantern Corps story set about 425 years in the future. I felt that it was a story that contained characters that DC isn't done with yet. If that's the case and a Green Lantern Corps series set in the 25th century is to be a thing? Well if so, expect me to be adding it to my subscription wish list at my local LCS. It's that good!

And let's not forget that I was a fan of the Gotham City Sirens tropical tale. 

The two stories I was not a big fan of involved the Justice Society of America and Deadman. The JSA story, set during WWII, involved stopping some Nazis from obtaining a magical museum piece that could turn the war in Hitler's favorite. Overall, the art was good and the plot was okay. I just felt like writer Charles Skaggs (Grayson) was trying to fit 25 gallons of pickles into a 5 gallon bucket. The pacing was just too fast and the one-liners fell flat.

As for the Deadman tale, I blame the artist, Kelley Jones (Batman & Dracula: Red Rain). I love Jones' work. But I hate how he draws Deadman. This team-up with Damian Wayne had promise. But writer Tim Seeley (Hack/Slash) ruins it with Deadman waxing philosophical at times and Batman, when he appears, just doesn't seem himself. I thought Batman liked and respected Boston Brand. But here, the Dark Knight seems to treat Deadman with the disdain you'd expect from Batman to have towards Plastic Man. 

A very good offering of stories from DC. Not very scary. And like I said, there wasn't any time travel. But this also book contained what I think is the best story of the whole year of 2022! And this was probably the best holiday giant from the House The Superman Built in the last 5 years. I'm feeling a lot of hope for the December offering thanks to this issue.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Saved by the Belle Reve #1

Finally! After several over-sized duds, DC puts out a themed special that focuses on FUN- mostly! The past couple of years, the majority of DC's seasonal specials had shorts that were more political than enjoyable. There's nothing wrong with comic books being educational or topical. But if they're not entertaining then it's more like reading a text book than a comic. 

With it being the start of a new school year, I took a chance on plopping down a ten-spot on this. I know it's not a holiday comic. But it's close enough for me.

There are 8 short stories in this special. Let's take a brief look at them all:

• The Suicide Squad are tasked with protecting the son of a generalissimo who is friendly to American interests. To do this, the Squad must pose as teachers. But as hordes of demon soldiers keep attacking the school on a daily basis, Task Force X must get creative. That means Killer Shark is now teaching English and Weasel is the new lunch lady!
• In a story from the past, Oliver Queen learns an important lesson in parenthood. While Speedy's grades aren't up to snuff, Ollie becomes a tyrant. Now things with Roy Harper are worse than ever before and the Emerald Archer must learn a balance between being an inspiration to an eager sidekick and a caring guardian to a lonely young boy.
• In a surprise return, the students of Gotham Academy return! School is about to return to session but some of the students will not. With Olive Silverlock still missing from something that happened at the end of Sophomore year, Maps is putting her classmates things away in storage. However, when it's discovered that Olive's journal is also missing, Maps and her classmates will go on one last mission to find it.
• Also returning in this issue- the Tiny Titans! Thanks to Art Baltazar and Franco, the pint-sized heroes take a literal wrong turn at Albuquerque and pop up in Belle Reve prison!
• Jonathan Kent and Damian Wayne, the Super Sons, join forces to help the new kid in school deal with a pair of bullies- in their own super ways.
• Barbara Gordon and Dick Grayson run afoul of Mister Freeze on the way to their Senior Prom. 
• John Paul Valley is led by his Azrael personality to the very school that trained him to become a trained killer for God. While at the abandoned institution, Valley's memories of the Brotherhood of the Order of St. Dumas come to the surface. 
• Finally, get it straight from the source, Jefferson Pierce, as to just why did Black Lightning decided to become a part of President Lex Luthor's cabinet. The answer itself probably won't surprise you. But it's nice to finally get a concrete answer to one of DC's most enduring mysteries of the past 2 decades.

The Suicide Squad story was the best. It was 100% insane! And I loved it. With the inclusion of Weasel and Peacemaker, you can tell that 2021's The Suicide Squad movie and director James Gunn was a direct influence on this story. Tim Seeley was the writer and the artist was Scott Kolins. I did a quick search online and it doesn't seem that this team is the crew behind the current Suicide Squad title. But if DC was to do a run with the two of them at the helm, I'd subscribe to it at my LCS! (BTW- Seeley and Kolins were behind a King Shark mini so I'll be adding that to my wish list!)

I loved having the Tiny Titans back. I miss their hi-jinks and you can't go wrong with Baltazar and Franco! The classic style Green Arrow story and the return to Gotham Academy were also really good reads. I liked the Azrael story. But the level of abuse that poor kid had to endure and how those supposed 'men of God' turn young Valley into a ruthless killer is just really disturbing. 

I had a little bit of trouble with the Barbara Gordon/Dick Grayson story. For one thing, Dick is in high school. Yet, in this story, he's also Nightwing. And Barbara is Batgirl. Now, I think I remember somewhere that they retconned that part for Barbara. But wasn't that part of the New 52? Plus, the end was so ambiguous and I hate ambiguous endings!

The remaining two stories were the least entertaining but at least one of them was inspiring. I had long been wondering why did Jefferson Pierce decide to accept Lex Luthor's appointment to the Secretary of Education. I had also wondered why in the pages of Superman/Batman that Black Lightning went toe-to-toe with the World's Finest when clearly Lex Luthor was going insane with power. Well, I got my first question answered with this special. Having lived through January 6th, I still don't have my answer to that last one.

And then there's the Super Sons story. It starts off as a fun little read in which 2 secretly powered pre-teens help a bullied new classmate to tap into his own special powers. But that last panel got really preachy and I don't think it was necessary to the story. Peter J. Tomasi's (Nightwing) story had written an amazing story about acceptance. But for one brief moment, DC decided it hadn't done enough to anger some fans. The panel didn't anger me. But it did ruin what was an otherwise fine 'Afterschool Special' type story.

I had a Lit professor who talked about some theory. I don't remember the name of the philosophy. But I do remember that he talked about how there are moments in works where things go in a different direction than what has been built up in the mind of the consumer and it ruins the enjoyability of the work. I had just finished up the Suicide Squad story before going on next to the Super Sons tale. With the Suicide Squad being completely off-the-wall, I was expecting the rest of this special to be just as wacky. The Super Sons story started off kinda silly with Damian taking a Sikorsky to his first day of school. So I wasn't expecting things to take such a dramatic turn. But I think if it wasn't for the ending of the Super Sons story, I probably wouldn't have been on guard for that tragic Azrael story.

Oh! I loved the title of this special! What a great throwback pun to a 1990s classic kids show!

Please DC, PLEASE! Put Seeley and Brendan Kolins behind the helm of the Suicide Squad! And bring Tiny Titans back!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.